I bought the plane tickets so I am now committed to the Apostle Islands Marathon. Now it is time for the less vexing part of actually registering but I'm a bit confused about the categories.

Apostle Islands has "Pro/Advanced" and "Fitness/Rec"

I am certainly no pro or elite but I've been wave A in all three North Shore marathons that I have done. 1:14:58 in 2008, which is the last year I could afford to travel to races and about 1:30 at Napa, which is a slower course.

Where do the fast and competent but still cooperative packs operate at Apostle?

Yeah, most races don't have a dedicated advanced wave anymore. You could probably skate in the rec wave and be with the front runners or in the pro/adv wave and finish a ways back in the pack. That's usually my dilemma too and choose to skate with the fast guys. I'll never be in contention to win, but it makes me a better skater.

Maybe I just came into too late but it never seemed like Advanced waves were common. Duluth: yes. The late Long Beach Marathon also had Pro, Advanced, and Rec but that is it from my personal experience. Other races have been mostly mass start with a Pro/Elite category and an "everyone else" category.

What makes Apostle confusing is calling the top category "Pro/Advanced". "Advanced", when mentioned at all, isn't normally lumped in with "Pro" but it is hard to imagine that organizers for Apostle would not be familiar with the NSIM names.

Road Rash also uses strange names. "Pro" and "Open" waves. "Open" at Duluth is the top end of "Pro". But since there there are only two categories, it is pretty easy to determine that "Open" at Road Rash means "everyone who is not pro".

I think a lot depends on where you fly from. Duluth is the closest viable airport but when flying from California all the Duluth flights stop first at MSP. Not much is gained for the extra airfare and reduced availability vs just driving from MSP.

Milwaukee is a connector (vs non-stop to MSP) and no cheaper. If long drives don't bother you than Chicago is only about an hour further than Milwaukee (7h vs 6h) and has far more and generally cheaper flights.

There are also a few minor airports around. Eu Clair is about an hour closer than MSP. Flight availability is thin though.

Last edited by ese002; May 24th, 2013 at 12:40 AM.
Reason: Eu Claire is more than just a little closer

What I found back in 2013 is that most of the "advanced" skaters (by the Duluth standard) were in Fitness/Rec. I actually started in Pro/Adv and ended up dropping off and then getting caught by the Fitness/Rec leaders with whom I finished the race. Obviously, this cost me some time.

Is this still an accurate assessment? I know the numbers have declined over the last five years so maybe other things have changed too.

I haven't been to Apostle in a few years, but it still draws a similar number of skaters. The pro/adv is made up of the Duluth pro and pro masters divisions. It sounds like you'd want to register for fitness/rec unless you want to challenge up.

They have 50+ Pro/Advanced wave. Judging from last time, I could plausibly hang with them. It seemed only by a tactical error that I didn't in 2013. However, I will be about 10 days too young to start with them this year.